Cardiovascular disease is rampant in the U.S. with about 610,000 Americans dying from heart disease per year, or about one in every four deaths. A new diagnostic test, however, may help in lowering the incidence and prevent deaths associated with the condition.
Pediatricians from the University of Virginia Children's Hospital have developed a test that takes into account many of the risks factors of heart disease. Physicians nationwide may potentially adapt this test to evaluate the future risks of teenagers for heart disease, which could encourage healthy behaviors that can potentially save their lives.
Cardiovascular disease is predominantly marked by modifiable risk factors, which means that it is preventable. The sole risk factor that cannot be changed is genetic predisposition but most are lifestyle-related such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, smoking and unhealthy diet.
The test evaluates the metabolic syndrome, a set of conditions that include high blood pressure, excessive body fat particularly around the waist and abdomen, high blood sugar levels and abnormal cholesterol levels that altogether elevates risks for cardiovascular disease. The test also considers variables that are specific to gender and race.
To develop the test, Mark DeBoer, from UVA, and colleagues looked at the metabolic severity scores of children that assessed their BMI, fasting triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose and HDL cholesterol.
The researchers followed up these children when they were about 49.6 years old on average and found a link between metabolic severity score and later development of heart disease. A correlation with diabetes was also observed.
"We found that there was a high correlation between the metabolic severity score for those children and for their later development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes," DeBoer said.
What makes the test different from previous diagnostic tests is that the earlier ones merely state if an individuals has or does not have metabolic syndrome. The new test creates a scale that describes the extent of a person's risks of developing heart disease, which to date remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.
The researchers said that the scores can be used to evaluate the risks of adolescents and use this to motivate them to change their risks by adapting healthier diet, exercising more or take medications to reduce the severity of their metabolic syndrome.
The research was published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Photo: Peter Karlsson | Flickr
